Why Harry Watling From Inside Man Looks So Familiar
Audiences can't seem to get enough of the series and movies diving into the macabre world of the minds of serial killers. Because of the high demand, production studios and streamers keep churning out content to quench the thirst to understand the darkness that lurks beneath the surface.
Coming off the heels of the success of "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story," Netflix brings audiences "Inside Man," which follows two men dealing with death in different ways. One is a death row inmate convicted of murdering his wife, and the other is a vicar who has kidnapped a tutor who stumbled onto a secret she wasn't supposed to find out. Stanley Tucci portrays the convicted killer awaiting execution in a Hannibal Lecter-style relationship with a journalist, assisting on complex cases the police can't seem to crack.
The vicar is played by an actor who has one of the most recognizable faces in the industry despite not being a household name. If you're having trouble figuring out where you've seen him before, here are the most likely places.
David Tenant was the Tenth Doctor
A number of different properties have amassed a giant fan base of loyal followers. Many of them have stood the test of time and flourished for decades, like "Star Trek," "Star Wars," and "Harry Potter." One of the longest-running and most famous is "Doctor Who," which follows a rogue Time Lord going by the name "the Doctor." The hero traverses time and space in a stolen TARDIS (a time machine disguised as a police box) along with companions to assist him. As a being who is centuries old and able to regenerate after being mortally wounded, many different actors have portrayed the Time Lord.
David Tennant appeared as the tenth iteration of the Doctor, starring in the series for three seasons, beginning in 2005. Morgan Jeffrey of Digital Spy believes that he is the greatest Doctor of all, and he may be on to something since Tennant's departure from "Doctor Who" was met with sadness, and his return delighted audiences. Tennant sat down with BBC News to give his thoughts on returning. "What a lovely, lovely thing to get to revisit something that was such a wonderful, happy, significant time in my life," he said. "It was a total joy from start to finish."
He was Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Speaking of massive franchises with large, loyal fan bases, "Harry Potter" is one of the biggest in the world. How big? Statista did a dive into the money generated by the franchise and tallied up a total of $25 billion in revenue from the box office, books, DVDs, and more.
David Tennant briefly appears in the fourth film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," as Barty Crouch Jr., a former Death Eater who had been imprisoned in Azkaban for his involvement in the dreadful torture of the Longbottoms. When he breaks out, he impersonates a professor, enters Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) name into the Goblet of Fire, and guides him through the tournament so that he'll come face-to-face with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Because the character spends most of the movie in disguise as someone else, Tennant's time on set was limited, although he spoke about his experience in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session. "I think I did 10 days or so over a year, so I always felt a bit like a visitor," he said. "But it was great to be part of something so extraordinary."
Tennant solved crimes in Broadchurch
Every police procedural seems to have the same formula: a crime of the week, a team of detectives, a maniacal killer, and a case closed by episode end. "Broadchurch" challenged that formula by stretching the cases out over multiple episodes and diving deeper into the humanity surrounding them, exploring how the people involved are affected. The series won multiple BAFTAs in 2013, including Best Actress (Olivia Colman) and Best Drama Series.
David Tennant co-led the series with Olivia Colman ("The Favourite," "The Crown") as detectives in Broadchurch. Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (Tennant) is a man tortured by a case he couldn't close and is susceptible to obsessive behavior when he allows himself to get entirely consumed by cases he is working on. He and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Colman) have entirely different styles and often come into conflict with each other at the beginning of the series but by Season 3 have figured out how to work together.
Tennant sat down with IndieWire to speak about what made the series unique and how he believed many shows that followed owe thanks to this drama. "It's not really like much else. It has a sort of peace to it and a way of examining characters that you don't often get in TV drama," he said. "I don't know in the U.S. — and this is just, of course, self-centered egotism — but I do often see things coming on the TV in the U.K. and thinking, 'That's a show that wouldn't exist before "Broadchurch."'"
He joined Marvel on Jessica Jones
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown since 2008 into one of the biggest franchises of all time, with about 30 movies and a handful of series on Disney+. Additionally, the streaming platform sports a slew of Marvel content that exists outside of the MCU, including six series produced by Marvel Television that were originally released on Netflix and are collectively known as the Defenders Saga. "Daredevil," "Iron Fist," "Jessica Jones," "Luke Cage," and "The Punisher" all followed individual heroes and their post-Battle of New York lives. The franchise ended with the team-up series "The Defenders."
David Tennant appeared on "Jessica Jones" as Kilgrave. While he didn't sport the comic version's purple skin, he often wore the color in a nod to his counterpart. Kilgrave was abused and experimented on as a child until one of the experiments gave him the power to remove someone's free will and bend to his every desire. Before the start of the series, he had kept Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) as his sex slave and even forced her to kill Luke Cage's (Mike Colter) wife. While she convinces Kilgrave to try to use his power for good, she betrays him and breaks his neck.
Even though Tennant was known for playing more heroic characters in the past, there was a reason he was willing to sign on for Kilgrave (via Los Angeles Times). "It was the fact that it was a Marvel property," he said. "I've always been a fan of their comic books and, more recently, I've been a fan of their movies and their TV shows, so that was an initial interest."
Tennant went bad in Bad Samaritan
In 2018, David Tennant starred in a film called "Bad Samaritan," which follows a young valet, Sean Falco (Robert Sheehan), and his partner, who use the cars that are entrusted to them to burglarize the homes of their owners. They bite off more than they can chew when they break into the home of a wealthy man and discover a woman being held captive.
Tennant plays serial killer Cale Erendreich, who kidnaps and tortures women before murdering them. When he discovers that his movements are known by the valets, Sean Falco (Robert Sheehan) and Derek Sandoval (Carlito Olivero), he kills Derek and his family. He also beats Sean's girlfriend and ruins their relationship in an attempt to break him down. His plan culminates in taking Katie (Kerry Condon), his original captive, to his family's cabin, where he plans on killing her and framing Sean. The two of them overpower him and get away, bringing the FBI to his door.
This role was very different for Tennant, who spoke with Collider about what it was like to play a character with no morals. "It's not me. It's an entirely safe environment," he explained. "Nobody is getting hurt, psychologically, mentally or physically, and you get to see what it might feel like to be that devoid of any moral compass. It's quite interesting."
He stayed demonic on Good Omens
Neil Gaiman is an author who is well-known for his work in the comic book industry. He's also penned a few films, including the English translation of "Princess Mononoke" and "Beowulf," and even developed some of his works into TV series, including "The Sandman" and "Good Omens," the latter of which follows an angel and a demon who develop an unlikely friendship and come together to try to delay the apocalypse.
David Tennant stars as Crowley, a demon who didn't fall from heaven but "sauntered vaguely downwards." He meets the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), his best friend and life partner, when he poses as a serpent to manipulate Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. The two spend the next 6,000 years on Earth, building a friendship that defies allegiances, and the chemistry between the actors is one of the primary aspects of the series that makes it fun to watch.
As Tennant told TV Insider, "They should be diametrically opposed to each other. But really, as the centuries progress, they find out they've got much more in common than they have apart and that they can help each other out, frankly. And all they need to do is keep their respective head offices quiet, and nobody's really checking up on them. So they begin to enjoy this mortal world and all that it affords."